Reply To: Cardboard As Base Layer and Weed Suppression

[Bantam Shores]

Good morning Christine, thanks for taking the time to reply.

It’s not embarrassing whatsoever having a rummage for cardboard. Rubbish to some, is treasure to others. I don’t know if you’ve tried or already looked, but I’ve found gumtree to be a great source for cardboard. There seems to be quite a few adverts looking to get rid of surplus.

I’m interested in your advice of laying an underlay of mulch to sandwich and further help the breaking down process of the card. Obviously already I intend to lay it onto my previous growing substrate which is quite thick in depth, as luckily for me, to a degree, the previous tenant spent a fortune on topsoil so I have the depth, but obviously at the same time, that has provided a home for our native weeds to make a home.

I have a handful of areas where mares tail has become prominent so although I’ll be practicing no dig, I shall take the effort to fork out the big players to give these new layers a fighting chance.

I’m glad to hear of success in regards to the cardboard. As mentioned I really don’t wish to begin things with a carpet of plastic and plant through because if I’m going to be layering on different mediums going forward, I fear the plastic would end up getting left which wouldn’t be great and if I were to remove later on, id have to dig back what I’ve put down to access it.

I see in America via YouTube, that cardboard as the initial weed suppression has become very popular but I’m inclined to always be careful before taking up an approach, in case I’m jumping on a negative bandwagon.

Yesterday I managed to secure regular supplies of coffee grounds and veg scraps from a local coffee chain and also reached out to a saw mill in the hope of taking their saw dust extraction as another ingredient, so going forward with no dig in mind, I’m already laying the foundations to procure enough materials to keep the compost bays topped up enough to break down and offer a worthy amount of coverage.